Adventure recreation (AR) has been found to supplement addiction treatment and recovery in valuable ways. However, questions about the components and processes of AR and its influence on behavioral addiction specifically, e.g., gambling, video gaming, pornography, etc., still remain. Using the Meaningful Learning Experiences Model (an AR-based framework) and a quasi-experimental pre-post design, the present study examined AR's influence on three therapeutic principles (authenticity, social network support, and therapeutic engagement) that have been found to significantly influence addiction recovery. Seventy-five participants with sexually related addictions, namely pornography addicts, supplemented their 12-Steps recovery meetings with a Meaningful Learning Experience and scuba diving intervention. MANOVA results indicated that AR influenced all variables in therapeutically beneficial ways, with the most saliently effected subdomains being inauthentic living and social support networks. These findings elucidate certain AR components and processes in an addiction treatment context and support previous claims that AR is also a viable and unique supplement for behavioral addicts seeking recovery.

This study aimed at investigating university preparatory school students&rsquo / and teachers&rsquo / perceptions of computer-assisted language learning (CALL) environment. The sample consisted of 308 students and 50 teachers from Zonguldak Karaelmas University Preparatory School. Data was gathered from the participants via two Effective CALL Questionnaires (ECALLQ) developed by the researcher. Both inferential and descriptive statistics were used to analyze the data. Principal component analysis was used to find the dimensions of the student questionnaire. Repeated measures ANOVA and paired-samples t-test were employed to define the priorities of the students within the dimensions of each subscale. MANOVA was used to investigate whether there were significant differences among students&rsquo / CALL environment perceptions with respect to certain background variables.Descriptive statistics were used to analyze students&rsquo / and teachers&rsquo / perceptions of computer&rsquo / s role and teacher&rsquo / s role in CALL environment and to analyze all participants&rsquo / responses to the open-ended questions.The study indicated that students perceive the computer&rsquo / s role with respect to (1)language skills, (2) overall effect of computer and (3) motivation / teacher&rsquo / s role with respect to (1) teacher assistance, (2) teacher guidance and (3) teacher presence / students&rsquo / expectations from the teacher with respect to (1) laboratory activities guided by the teacher and (2) overall guidance. According to the students&rsquo / perceptions, language skills,teacher assistance and lab activities guided by the teacher were found to be the most effective dimensions.Descriptive statistics showed that both students and teachers are undecided about the effectiveness of CALL, and they believe that teachers are effective in CALL environment.

The purpose of this study was to investigate instructional components that foster meaningful learning for adults with disabilities in a community-based art center. Through narrative analysis and case study methodology, the researcher examined the programmatic content of a single community-based art center--the Arc of the Arts Studio and Gallery (AOA) in Austin, Texas--from 2009 to 2011. Utilizing authentic instruction and constructivism as educational frameworks (Anderson & Milbrandt, 2005; Newmann & Wehlage, 1993), the investigator proposed instructional changes to the AOA program that encouraged student-centered learning through discipline-based inquiry, maintaining real-world connections, and the active construction of knowledge. The researcher instituted a structured, arts-based curriculum based upon these educational concepts that infused lessons with illustrative materials, sequential learning, and public promotion of participants' finished art products in order to stimulate creativity and meaningful learning within the art center. This study scrutinized historical literature documenting art and general education for the disability community in order to examine the influence each historical orientation to disability had on art instruction for this population. Coupled with analysis of the programmatic structure of similar art centers around the country, this information facilitated a more full and rich understanding of how and why art education for people with disabilities is currently organized. The process of creating and implementing a structured art curriculum into the AOA studio addressed the ways in which meaningful learning may take place for adults with disabilities at community-based locations, and emphasized the need for further research into the quality, experience, and location of art education for the wide spectrum of people with disabilities. / text

This Independent work is about testing a method to create meaningful learning and a deeper comprehension in matter of basic hairdressing techniques. I got the idea for this method by reading literature related to my education to become a teacher for hairdressers, the new schoolreform and from my own experience of a teaching method that I saw an opportunity to develope. My teaching method was based on first teaching the pupils the basic techniques, and then give them an assignment were they were to find out their own final result by using a picture for inspiration. They were given an assignment description with certain frames but with freedom of choice how to get to their own final result. By making a job description and a headdrawing to show how the work should be done, and during the process try different ways to achieve the best result, my idea was that a deeper understanding and a feeling of meaningfulness would appear. The result shows that the pupils by freedom within frames experienced meaningful learning and thereby deeper understanding when it comes to basic hairdressing techniques. They also developed skills to write, evaluate their own work and to try new paths for further learning. The conclusion is that this teaching method can be used to achieve the goals according to the be changed and added on to develop the method further, but it is a good foundation as a starting point. / Utvecklingsarbetet i form av ett undervisningsförsök handlade om att försöka skapa meningsfulla lärsituationer och ge djupare förståelse för frisörens grundläggande tekniker. Idén till undervisningsförsöket fick jag genom den valda litteraturen från lärarutbildningen, styrdokumenten samt egna erfarenheten av ett undervisningssätt som jag såg möjligheter att utveckla. Undervisningsförsöket gick ut på att ge eleverna grundteknikerna och utifrån dem ge dem i uppgift att själva hitta ett mål, med en inspirationsbild till hjälp. De fick en uppgiftsbeskrivning, men med frihet att själv hitta vägar att nå sitt mål. Genom att göra en arbetsbeskrivning och en huvudskiss på hur arbetet skulle gå till väga, och under processen prova sig fram till det bästa sättet att nå sitt mål, var tanken att djupare förståelse och en känsla av meningsfullhet skulle uppnås. Resultatet visar att eleverna upplevde att genom frihet inom ramar gav ett meningsfullt lärande och därmed större förståelse för frisörens grundläggande tekniker. De utvecklade även förmågan att skriva, utvärdera sitt eget arbete och pröva nya vägar för fortsatt lärande. Slutsatsen är att detta undervisningssätt kan användas för att uppnå målen i styrdokumenten för Hantverk och Hantverk-Frisör 1 (GY 11 Skolverket). Det finns saker som kan ändras och läggas till för att utveckla undervisningsförsöket ytterligare, men är en god grund att utgå ifrån.

This study examines evidence that supports the assertion of social presence (sp) theory impacting the community of inquiry for cognitive learning in distance education (DE). This study tested the validity of social presence assertions with respect to developing deep meaningful learning (dml) from the perspective of students engaged in distance education Master’s studies. This study employed a convenient sample of students enrolled at the graduate level; due to limited participation generalizations cannot be made to any population. The mixed method study involved both a quantitative online survey with 36 questions and qualitative follow-up telephone interviews conducted with 4 participants. A target population of 290 participants was obtained resulting in 25 returned surveys. Findings concluded no significant relationship exists between social presence and deep meaningful learning, cognitive learning and building a community of inquiry for deep meaningful learning. Findings strongly suggest social presence acts as a hindrance to deep meaningful learning. The results of the study justify further investigation and future studies are strongly recommended. / 2011-06

No description available.

Assessment is a key aspect within teaching and learning processes in higher education (Torrance, 2007). Formative assessment may be viewed simply as constructive feedback to support learning or more holistically as ongoing assessment based on sustained engagement in learning activities within a supportive social context that expand teachable moments to scaffold learning. Online education now pervades higher education worldwide but effective ways to incorporate formative assessment within online settings is not well understood. Previous research in online postgraduate courses designed for teachers as professional learners illustrate that engagement with authentic learning activities promotes meaningful learning and transferability to their communities of practice (COP) (e.g. Mackey, 2011). However, there appears to be paucity of literature with a focus on assessment in professional learning. This thesis explores formative assessment within online postgraduate courses designed for teachers as professional learners who aim to develop capacity to incorporate information communication technologies (ICT) in their own practice. Case studies are presented to richly illustrate the design, implementation and evaluation of the effectiveness of two courses; and then further re-examined to elucidate strategies and key characteristics that can foster (or hinder) online formative assessment. Authentic and developmental learning perspectives underpinned by situated cognition theory framed the design and interpretation within a multiple-case methodology. Evidence of experiences and perceptions of the teachers and their professional students included online observation, analysis of the discourse, and semi-structured interviews. An authentic learning environment that sustained productive engagement is illustrated in both case studies along with many techniques that the teachers designed to underpin formative assessment. A key characteristic in both courses was the design of authentic assessment activities that are relevant and meaningful in real-life contexts. Techniques identified included appropriate learner autonomy, and opportunities to negotiate shared understanding of learning goals and expected outcomes including the sharing of student-created artefacts. The online reification of the artefacts and other learning community support was enabled by the ongoing documentation through creative use of online discussion forums as a feature within the learning management system (LMS). These techniques enriched the processes of ongoing monitoring, assessment of evidence of learning and interactive formative feedback. Both teachers’ beliefs about self and peer feedback also enabled both teachers to design for productive synergies between formative and summative assessment that promoted engagement and deep learning. Additional synergies of discourse among peers related to immediacy, interactivity, and mutuality in which the students recognized themselves and valued their peers as source of constructive feedback. The students also demonstrated meaningful reflectivity that manifested reflexivity within the context of their professional practices. Online formative assessment is illustrated in both courses as a form of collaborative engagement in authentic learning, including assessment activities with opportunities for ongoing interactions and formative feedback. The open-ended authentic assessment activities supported professional learners to connect the online discourse to their own classroom practices, as well as keenly engage with authentic projects that are situated in their schools. Learner autonomy stimulated self-regulated learning in which students went beyond achievement of the expected learning outcomes for summative assessment to engaging with tasks and processes that matched their own learning goals, interests and contextual needs. Learners’ involvement within formative assessment processes enhanced opportunities to negotiate meanings which fostered shared authenticity.The inherent authenticity in the course design also stimulated application of prior knowledge and experiences in ways that promoted meaningful learning. Engagement in asynchronous dialogue as a community of learners with shared goals and practice elicited alterative perspectives and disorienting dilemmas. This stimulated learners to think in new ways and more critically and to develop relevant professional competencies in ICT. These in turn supported teachers as professional learners to confidently apply their developing pedagogical practices with ICT in their own classrooms; and to share those with school colleagues. This study illustrates ways that online formative assessment can be designed to support learners to develop relevant knowledge and professional skills that increase professional competencies. Incorporating authentic formative assessment in the course design also impacted teachers’ continuing professional development (CPD), and thus their schools. A key finding from this research is conceptualization of formative assessment as a collaborative pedagogical strategy in which both the teacher and students are active players. This research provides evidence that innovative integration of formative assessment in online settings can support committed professional learners to develop competencies that are transferable into their own practice. This suggests that ongoing formative assessment is an important strategy to increase the quality of online professional development in many fields, in addition to that of education.

Implicit concept mapping (iCmap; Aidman & Egan, 1998), measures: (1) the complexity of conceptual activation, and (2) the degree to which integration is internally consistent. These characteristics describe aspects of both Dual Code theory (DCT; Paivio,1986) and of lexical meaning (Johnson-Laird, 1987). Within the DCT literature, two kinds of representations have been proposed, verbal and nonverbal, and in the case of concrete words both kinds of representations will be activated compared to abstract words, which only have a verbal representation. 40 Participants completed Experiment 1, which aimed to assess degree of conceptual change due to learning. The results revealed no change in performance. 120 Participants completed Experiment 2 with a modified task called, progressive concept mapping (proCmap). The results indicated that concrete nouns had greater consistency between trials relative to abstract nouns, whereas abstract nouns had greater complexity. These results provide confirmatory evidence that proCmap is sensitive to information associated with conceptual structure

The technologies are increasingly present day in our lives and in the school environment. However, the potentiating access to information, creating a new challenge for educators and students in order to carry out the construction of learning through autonomy, a critical and creative perspective. In this sense, this study aims to evaluate the potential use of Webquest methodology for improving the teaching-learning process in the subject of chemistry. The work falls under the line of Educational Technology Development Research Network of PPGTER and has as a final product to produce a Chemical newspaper, addressing various topics of everyday life of students involving chemical concepts. Research has research-action character as it includes in addition to the researcher, the students in their final year of high school College Technical Industrial de Santa Maria (CTISM) and is divided into three stages, involving exploratory studies, construction activities and evaluation methodology by students. Data will be collected through questionnaires survey type and delivery of abstracts and Chemicals newspapers as a way to assess the effectiveness of this methodology. / As tecnologias estão a cada dia mais presentes em nossas vidas e no ambiente escolar. No entanto, ao potencializarem o acesso à informação, criam um novo desafio para educadores e alunos de forma a efetivar a construção da aprendizagem, através da autonomia, numa perspectiva crítica e criativa. Nesse sentido, o presente trabalho tem como objetivo avaliar as potencialidades do uso da metodologia Webquest para a melhoria do processo de ensino-aprendizagem na disciplina de Química. O trabalho se enquadra na linha de pesquisa de Desenvolvimento de Tecnologias Educacionais em Rede do PPGTER e possui como produto final a produção de um jornal Químico, abordando diversas temáticas do cotidiano dos estudantes que envolvem conceitos químicos. A pesquisa possui caráter de pesquisa-ação em que inclui além do pesquisador, os estudantes do último ano do Ensino Médio do Colégio Técnico Industrial de Santa Maria (CTISM) e está dividida em três etapas, envolvendo estudos exploratórios, construção das atividades e avaliação da metodologia por parte dos estudantes. Os dados serão recolhidos através de questionários do tipo survey e entrega de resumos e dos Jornais Químicos como forma de avaliar a eficácia desta metodologia.

Nesta dissertação de mestrado, procurou-se identificar as possíveis representações sociais da Física entre pessoas (N = 9.617) de diferentes grupos sociais. A importância dessas representações sociais decorre de que o processo educacional não ocorre em um vazio, mas sim em um ambiente onde os aprendizes possuem percepções e representações que podem influenciar a aprendizagem, pois como qualquer atividade humana, são perpassadas pelas representações sociais (Jodelet, 1984). O social interfere de diversos modos, dependendo do contexto concreto em que se situam os indivíduos e grupos, da bagagem cultural que regula os padrões de percepção e dos códigos e valores compartilhados socialmente. Da teoria da aprendizagem significativa (Ausubel, 2003), sabemos que o aluno deve mostrar uma predisposição para a aprendizagem significativa e, além disso, é possível que o significado psicológico, atribuído ao significado lógico de um conteúdo, esteja vinculado às crenças e ideologias compartilhadas pelo grupo social do aprendiz, pois mesmo que esse significado psicológico seja um fenômeno idiossincrático, existe a possibilidade de significados sociais ou partilhados. Na primeira etapa da pesquisa foi implementado um teste de associação livre de palavras, seguido de uma análise prototípica dos termos evocados, chegando-se a um mapa dos prováveis constituintes do núcleo central e elementos periféricos da representação. Nessa etapa procurou-se identificar os termos mais importantes, sem levar em conta os grupos sociais. Na segunda etapa, foi implementado um teste do tipo “obtenção de dados de preferência por ordenação direta”, utilizando termos salientes da primeira etapa. O processamento dos dados foi feito usando um algoritmo de escalonamento multidimensional, que gerou mapas perceptuais globais e estratificados por grupos sociais. A estratificação levou em conta o tipo de contato que os grupos tiveram com a Física como disciplina escolar ou acadêmica. No caso dos estudantes de nível superior, selecionaram-se os cursos com um número de respondentes maior que o número de termos da pesquisa. A confrontação dos mapas perceptuais mostrou configurações distintas, mas com tendências que sugerem a existência de representações sociais ou coletivas sobre a Física. / In this Masters' dissertation, we tried to identify possible social representations of physics among people from different social groups (N = 9,617).The importance of these social representations stems from the fact that the educational process is not isolated, but it occurs in an environment where the learners' perceptions and representations can influence learning, because like any human activity, it is pervaded by social representations (Jodelet, 1984 ).Social relations interfere in various ways, depending on the specific context in which individuals and groups are situated, the cultural baggage that regulates perception standards, and socially shared values and codes. From the theory of meaningful learning (Ausubel, 2003), we know that the student must show a positive attitude in order to achieve a meaningful learning and, moreover, it is possible that the psychological meaning attributed to the logical meaning of a subject is linked to the beliefs and ideologies shared by the social group of the learner. Even if that psychological meaning is an idiosyncratic phenomenon, the possibility of social or shared meanings still exists. In the first stage of the research, we conducted a free word-association test, followed by a prototypical analysis of evoked terms, coming to a map of the likely constituents of the central core and peripheral elements of the representation. At this stage we tried to identify the most important terms, without considering the different social groups. In the second stage, a test of the "preference data obtained by direct ordination" type was implemented, using salient terms of the first stage. Data processing was done using a multidimensional scaling algorithm, which generated perceptual maps, both global and stratified by social groups. The stratification took into account the type of contact the groups had with physics as a school or college discipline. For college students, we selected the courses with a number of respondents greater than the number of research terms. The comparison of the perceptual maps showed distinct configurations, but with trends that suggest the existence of social or collective representations of physics.